"Cherie, could you pass me the pasta bowl please? I need to load up on some carbs."

Cherie, who was sitting across from Hyukjae's mother at the dinner table, passed the piping hot bowl of Alfredo over to Bea. For a woman well in her 60's, her demeanor and personality was relatively carefree and effervescent. Her dark chocolate-brown bob was assymetrically cropped, with several streaks of silver dotting her hairline. Her eyes were warm yet attentive, with lines of graceful wrinkles signifying years of acquired wisdom from both life and erudition, being that she was a retired criminal justice lawyer from a well-established law firm in Venice.

"So Cherie, what do you do for a living?" Bea asked as she chewed on a creamy mushroom.

"I still have one more year of college left."

"Which college?"

"Seoul National University."

"Looks like Hyuk's found himself a beauty with actual brains," Hyukjae's dad, Vincent said as he relished his shrimp ravioli. "I like this girl."

Cherie giggled at the retired neurosurgeon, who had been nothing but entertaining since they met just a couple of hours ago. His angular and sculpted face was weathered with time and old age, but it had a radiant glow to it that couldn't have been chemically formulated by even the best of plastic surgeons. His fantastically whimsical tendencies amused Cherie, reminding her of Hyukjae's witty and humorous side. Like father like son.

"Vince!" Bea swatted her husband's arm beside her.

Turning to Cherie with an apologetic grimace, Bea explained that Vincent was an honorary alum of SNU since he helped with a major neurological research department study back in the 80's.

"He's hugely biased to that school so you've probably already won over 89% of him," Hyukjae said as he heaped some fresh salad onto Cherie's plate. Cherie smiled in return and fed him a mouthful of some spinach leaves, thin chicken strips, and croutons with a smattering of french dressing.

Hyukjae happily chewed like a hungry boy.

"Awww," Vincent said as Cherie wiped away stray dressing from Hyukjae's mouth. "And to be exact, it's closer to 94%. The other 6% comes after marriage when I have healthy little children running around the house calling me grandpa."

"One down, one to go," Donghae said under his breath from one end of the rectangular wood dining table, to which everyone laughed loudly.

"No one in their right mind would reject such a pearl as Cherie," Bea said as she took a sip of her iced tea.

Cherie blushed as Hyukjae slung his arm around her shoulder, thrilled. Both parents had just indicated that they approved of her.

"I'm just glad Hyuk finally found himself a lady. Though I'm curious, Cherie. I can guarantee that he has no luck with women whatsoever, so how did he manage to snag you as his girlfriend?" Vincent mused, and then looked over at Hyukjae. "No offense son. You knew it was coming."

"None taken," Hyukjae shrugged. "I've learned to embrace my awkward individualism."

"Atta boy," Vincent laughed.

"Mr Lee," Cherie started.

"Vince," Vincent corrected. "Mr. Lee is reserved for Hyuk's friends only. That's the only way I can have a semblance of authority over those brats."

"But that's not fair!" Leeteuk suddenly burst out from the other end of the table. Donghae nodded sadly.

"Shhh!" Hyukjae shushed him. He wanted Cherie to continue. He was curious too.

"Vince," Cherie smiled, "that's exactly what caught my attention. He was sweet and gentle, and nothing like the other egotistical jerks I've associated with in the past. He pulled me out from a hamster wheel of delusion I was stuck in, and is essentially the reason I have my internship position at Vogue Italia right now. He's my hero."

Cherie tenderly looked at her boyfriend, whose arm was still resting on her shoulder, and smiled at him with all the adoration and affection in her heart as if they were the only two people existing in the world that moment.

Vincent let out a low whistle. "I didn't know my son could be that noble. Good on you Lee Hyukjae!"

"Thanks dad," Hyukjae said, surprised that Cherie viewed him so reverently. His chest swelled with an overbearing rush of pride and love for her that he could almost suffocate. What made it even more meaningful was that she was willing to speak her mind to his closest friends and family without any hesitation.

"True love," Bea said as she tried to wipe away a single tear that had rolled down her cheek. "Excuse me for a second. My son has tipped the balance of my emotional stability."

Donghae smiled. This was the first time in his 15 years that he had known Hyukjae's mother where she openly showed her sentiments.

Bea sniffed and cleared , waving her hand dismissively in the air.

"Cherie, you mentioned an internship at Vogue? How is that going for you? I remember vaguely from my phone conversations with Hyuk that it has something to do with photography?"

Hyorin gently kicked Donghae under the table and motioned for him to come closer to her.

"Is she changing the topic already?"

Donghae nodded. "Sadly, yes. But her tears were an improvement nonetheless."

"This must be serious huh?"

"Hyukjae's head over heels for her and his parents are competely smitten, so it's only a matter of time before I call Cherie my sis-in-law," Donghae winked.

He was positive of it.

"Yeah, I'm one of the three chosen photography interns," Cherie said.

"Does that mean you'll be traveling around the world shooting for the magazine then?"

"Possibly. I'm not certain as of now since I need to finish my last year at SNU before anything concrete is planned."

"Oh," Bea replied simply.

She hesitated before continuing.

"I don't want to be a party pooper and ruin the mood, but hypothetically speaking, let's say you finish your internship and your job requires you to fly all over the place for different fashion shows or editorial picks or whatever the case may be. Hyukjae is an established pilot, and with the both of you hardly at home and away from each other for long periods of time, how will you manage to keep your feelings stable? Meeting and coming in contact with a diverse range of unique people, in addition to maintaining a long distance relationship is a pretty risky venture to pursue, is it not?"

For a while, the room remained uneasily silent as everyone mulled over what Bea had "hypothetically" proposed. The theory was highly probable, yet no one wanted to admit it or even mention it, all except Bea, the level-headed lawyer.

Retracting his arm from around Cherie's shoulders, Hyukjae wanted to speak up.

Clasping his hands together on the table, he looked at his mother straight in the eyes.

"Mom, I respect where you're coming from, and there is great plausibility that it might happen. But, careers may come and go, with old doors closing and new opportunities presenting themselves, so I shouldn't need to confine myself to one specific job just because I'm good at it or receive good compensation for a reputable position. People resist change, even if it isn't necessarily for their own betterment, but I'm willing to adjust according to my situation. I may even find some other field of work that fits right into my niche of skill or interest that I haven't considered before. With that said, love isn't so simple. People were made to love once, and even if you insist that I can't be with Cherie and find some air stewardess to marry out of convenience, I will love no one else. I can't vouch for Cherie, but this is how I feel. I hope you understand."

The strained tension in the room was stifling, almost unbearable.

"I can vouch for myself. There is no other road my heart would travel but the road that leads to him, Mr. and Mrs. Lee," Cherie said, squeezing Hyukjae's hand on top of the table.

"I believe in you guys," Vincent said, then turned to his wife. "Honey, at least give them a chance. If they're serious about it, they'll know how to handle it accordingly. They're mature adults who can think for themselves now. We need to respect that."

Looking back and forth between Hyukjae and Cherie with her lips set in a firm line, Bea sensed nothing but earnesty from their somewhat pleading expressions. How could she deny their willingness to create a miracle and prove her wrong?

"As Ben Franklin once said after he changed his mind about the approving of the American Constitution: 'For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.'."

Looking at Cherie, Bea smiled widely.

"Cherie, I never thought I'd say this, since this is our first time meeting each other, but I'm sincerely grateful that you came into Hyukjae's life."

~*~*~*~

The mist rolled into the weed-infested cracks and crevices of the concrete. As the first signs of Autumn came creeping stealthily without prior notice or warning, the bitter breath of a chilled breeze of wind swept the eerie mist past the city, lingering in gutters and hanging like ghostly leaves on barren trees devoid of life. Owls hooted in a melancholy tone in the midnight darkness as the crescent moon toiled to shine through the thick, gray clouds.

As Cherie was about to drift off in peaceful slumber after replaying the events of the night in her head, savoring the love and attention she received from Hyukjae's parents, a piercing shriek jostled her awake from her sleep. The shrill screeching sounded like sharp nails on a chalkboard, loud and high-pitched despite it coming from outside her balcony. Bolting upright, Cherie scrunched her blanket tightly in her hands, desperately trying to contain the rising sense of panic and terror that threatened to engulf her. She felt that the noise was getting closer and closer to her, and she hated the feeling of being helpless in dread, her paranoia making her imagination run wild.

She looked at Hyorin's bed, which was still nicely made from this morning.

Where was she?

Deathly afraid of looking out to her balcony, Cherie did the only thing that she could think of.

Tumbling out of her bed clumsily, she sprinted out of her room and across the hallway to Hyukjae's room. Without bothering to knock, she ran into his room and shook him awake beside his bed, her tears rolling freely down her face.

"Huh? Wha?" Hyukjae responded drowsily as he struggled to open his bleary eyes.

"Hyuk," Cherie whimpered. "I'm scared."

Amidst her sniffling and muffled crying, Hyukjae became fully awake and gently invited her onto his bed.

"Come here baby."

Wrapping his blanket around her, which had been previously warmed by his own body heat, he laid down beside her under the blankets and hugged her tightly.

"What happened?"

"I d...don't know, there was a...a weird screeching s-sound on my b-balcony and I got scared-d," Cherie choked out. "I hated it."

Digging her face deep into his neck, she nestled closer to his chest and felt herself gradually calm down in his strong, secure embrace.

A red flag immediately rose in Hyukjae's mind as he thought back to the stalker's note that came with the stack of pictures he received a week ago.

Was this his doing too?

"You're safe. Don't be scared. I'm here," Hyukjae whispered, his eyes closed. "Let's get some sleep. You still have your exam tomorrow."

"Okay," Cherie agreed, wrapping her legs around his and tightening her hold on his waist. "But promise me you won't let me go."

"I promise."

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